On today’s episode Cat is breaking down the difference between a content strategy problem and a content system problem and how to identify which you should be working on. She shares solutions on what to fix and how to fix it to create more content or better content.

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Join my upcoming Webinar: Create a Simple, Repeatable Content Strategy that *actually* creates sales, authentically & ethically

A simple, repeatable content strategy that encourages you to post & go. A strategy that ignites conversation — not because of then edits & info but bc of the value it provides.

If you wanna create quality content — you need a simpler content strategy, NOT a more complicated one.

I’m hosting a brand new workshop, teaching you exactly how to create a content strategy that is simple, that you could easily repeat daily, that encourages you to stay off your phone, and focus on what actually can move the needle in your business — ✨YOUR CLIENTS.✨

Join me April 23rd — I’m breaking down this process and so much more.

Webinar Link: https://catdelcarmen.com/webinar

What is up, y’all? Welcome back to Show Up Real Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Y’all, I want to start by apologizing because I have not posted on time for the last two weeks. I think for the last, honestly, like this entire year, I restructured my team and I let go of my podcast manager and

I just have struggled to get the behind the scenes in order to get these episodes out on time. So I want to start there. Number one. Also, number two, I’m sick a little bit. I’m getting over it. So if I sound a little nasally, it’s because of that. But I want to start with just explaining that because it’s been such a struggle. And I’ve had a podcast for years. OK, I mean, I started this podcast in 2019.

So I’ve had a podcast for years, years, years, and I mean, changing the process and the system behind it has really just been so hard for me to accomplish. And I’m a person who just honestly, I struggle to get things done on time because of my ADHD one, but also because of a zillion reasons. That being said.

I’m working on it, okay? So I just wanted to be honest with you because it’s so important that you show up consistently in marketing. And it’s important that you show up when you say you’re gonna show up because people count on that, right? They look forward to your content. And I feel like my podcast has just been getting the, you know, this year, I feel like my podcast, I have just struggled to really…

like do it on time, prepare everything on time ever since I got rid of my podcast manager. So I’m probably going to rehire my podcast manager or figure out a solution. But for right now, I just wanted to bring it up because it’s something that I talk about. And I also want to like be real with you in terms of like the realities of it not always looking how it’s supposed to look when you have a business and sometimes.

that’s going to happen, right? And the full, full, full transparency is I’ve been, I’ve had my podcast for so many years. I’ve taken a handful of breaks and I’ve also posted at different times. I’ve always tried to stick with a schedule, but even when I’ve done that, even when I was recording them myself, cause I did record them myself and published and edit it myself for like two years. And when I was doing that, I also would just

be a little late or delayed or whatever. So it’s never stopped me from showing up completely. I want this to also be permission to you that sometimes if life is happening, I want you to always give yourself permission to put out value. Value equals money. Value equals money. So putting out an episode regardless of

If you messed up or you didn’t say what you were going to do, you didn’t do what you said you were going to do regardless, own up to it, show up, be there for your people. At the end of the day, value, value equals money. And when you are in service and you’re giving and you’re serving, that will eventually turn into money when you repeat giving value over and over and over again. And silly enough, today’s episode,

I want to talk about the difference between a content strategy and a content system. Because a content strategy, we’ll get into it, but the reason I wanted to talk about both of these is because I feel like people, they either don’t even think of these two separately, they just see it as a content strategy, and then they think that there’s a problem with their content strategy, even though the problem is likely a content system, not.

content strategy problem. So today, I want to break down the differences between a content strategy and a content system and then help you understand what your work is. Help you understand like, how can I get one, consistent with my content, two, create content that is converting, that brings lots of value to people, and three, one that supports my business.

supports me, my lifestyle, all of that. So that’s what I want to talk about today. And I think me being an example of this and my struggle with the podcast ever since I changed my system is such a good example to for you to see, right? For you to see what the problem is and how to solve it for yourself with the goal of one, if you’re one of those people who struggle with showing up consistently, then

That is the goal that I want you to focus on. And then for others, it’s not the strategy. I mean, it’s not the system. It’s probably the strategy, which we’ll also get into. OK, so that’s what we’re talking about today. But before I get officially into that, I want to invite you to my upcoming webinar. I’m hosting a webinar on April 23rd. And I’m going to be breaking.

down a process that I’ve been teaching my clients and honestly I’ve been evolving it, but I’m calling this free training, create a simple repeatable content strategy that actually sells in an authentic and ethical way. I have been doing so much work and studying and looking at my clients results and reviewing coaching calls. Like I’ve really been digging into my client results and

very, very like I’m in a phase in my business where I’m really committed to solving their problems, especially within my group, Show Up Real. And when I was thinking about what I wanted to create for my upcoming launch as I opened the doors to Show Up Real again, I wanted to really hone down on the simplicity of what a content strategy could be. And I really want, I want like, I made it my goal to

create the most simple, understandable content strategy that is so simple that it helps you just eliminate the noise that happens in content, that happens when you open up social media. And that’s what I’ve been focusing on. So I’m really, really excited. I’m still kind of like unpacking this and working on the slides and kind of seeing what I want to do with this.

But I’m so, so excited about this because this is going to be the shift within Show Up Real. And I really want to create a program that helps people show up very, very authentically, very much in service, but also have strategies, like a content strategy that is simple, that is repeatable, that you don’t have to put like a wild amount of effort into every single day. So.

If you want to join this webinar, go register. It’s completely free. It’s happening April 23rd. It’s a Wednesday. It’s at 12 p.m. I’ll put the link below for you to register, but also make sure that you are following me on Instagram at Kat Del Carmen, where I will be promoting it regularly as well. And I’ll be talking about it on the episodes leading up to it. But still, I want to invite you. So go sign up now so you can get it on your calendar.

get the emails, get the reminder emails and all that stuff. All right. Let’s talk about strategy versus system. So first, let’s define what a content strategy is. A content strategy is your intentional marketing plan. It is the why behind your content. Your content strategy is really just a marketing plan.

that you create to, and you finish that sentence. Now, that could be to sell out your offer. It could be to help your clients get this result. It could be whatever you want. I recommend that that marketing plan always be behind helping people get a result with consideration to what you’re selling at a certain time. So when we talk about marketing,

I’m sorry, content marketing strategy. That includes who you’re talking to. It includes what you’re selling. It includes the core ideas you want your audience to understand about the result you help people get. It also considers your sales goals, right? And you’re the messaging behind a launch, the messaging behind your offer that you sell. Okay? So…

This is what’s included in a content strategy. This is where you’re really identifying like who is my ideal audience, right? If you’ve watched any type of content, you know, any type of content education, it’s usually always going to start with, you need to know who you’re talking to. You need to know what you’re selling. You’ve got to know the result you help people get, regardless of whether you are a coach or a service based industry, even if you have a product based business.

You have to know this stuff. You have to know who you’re talking about. And all of that is your content strategy. from all of those decisions, that’s where you create a marketing strategy that speaks to your people, that showcases your offer, that creates tons of solutions and value for people who really want to solve that problem. So that is how you want to look at your content.

strategy.

Now let’s talk about a content system, okay? The content system, your content system is the how behind your content. This is the repeatable process you use to execute the strategy, okay? To execute the strategy. That includes your content schedule. It includes where you’re showing up on what platforms. Is it social media? Or do you go to events?

It could be so much more than content alone. Like, what is your marketing strategy to create leads? What is your marketing strategy to nurture your audience, right? How you repurpose and how you recycle content, that has to do with your content system, your tools, templates, batching, batch systems, right? All of that has to do with your content system, not your content strategy, okay? And…

One thing to remember is like people have systems without direction. They’re showing up consistently, but not strategically. Like you could do one and not the other, right? Same with your content strategy. Some people create content without knowing what they’re even building demand for, right? And not to say one is wrong and one is not, right? So if you’re an influencer, if you’re a content creator and all you do is create content to build an audience,

there’s still, you still have a goal of building an audience, right? So tip, your content strategy is, should have a goal behind it, right? And if you are a person who you wanna create content that builds community and you want it to build your revenue and grow your revenue in your business, then that has to be considered in your strategy. And then when it comes to your content system, what has to be really considered is,

your capabilities, your skills, your lifestyle, which is really, really important, right? Like I’m a mom of two and I work, I don’t work. I mean, I literally work from like nine to 1 PM, probably Monday through Friday, sometimes not even Friday. So like right now in my business and life, I’m not working a ton. I’m planning to increase that a little bit as I go into the summer and into fall.

But regardless, I have to look at my life and really see what’s attainable. What can I get done with the time that I have, especially considering how I do things, considering my schedule, considering how many clients I have right now. Considering all of that, that’s where you create a system that works for you.

So let’s talk about strategy without a system versus system without a strategy. So a strategy without a system equals great ideas and low consistency. If you don’t have a problem coming up with ideas, you have lot to say.

to your ideal client about what you help them with, right? But you’re not actually showing up that regularly. And let’s say that you show up for like a whole month and then you take a whole month off. That is a systems problem, not a strategy problem. I mean, maybe you have some strategy problems, but the priority thing to focus on, right? The priority solution for this problem.

is a better content system, right? You have ideas, you have a lot to say, but you’re not actually showing up to doing it. You have to figure out the why, and I can help you. But you got to figure that out, the consistency. And you want to identify this because I feel like so many people don’t even know if they have a systems problem or a strategy problem. They just assume they have a strategy problem because their content doesn’t convert.

But if you aren’t showing up consistently, your content isn’t going to convert purely based on you not nurturing your audience. So strategy without system is great ideas, but low consistency or no consistency. A system without strategy equals consistent content, but it’s not leading anywhere. So for those of you who are

very consistent. create content every single week. You create con maybe you, I mean, you could do, you could, do IG lives and you could be on Tik TOK and you could be sending emails. Like you could be doing all the things, but if you feel like you’re doing all the things and you’re not getting the clients you want, you’re not getting the revenue you want, you’re not getting the sales calls you want, then that is a strategy problem. Okay.

That is a strategy problem. It means that there is work to look into the content you’re creating and look into that and see what the problem is. It could be your messaging. It could be that you’re not talking to an ideal client. It could be that you don’t have a result that you really help people get, right? It could be a zillion things. But what I want you to take away from this is specifically to the people who are creating lots of content and not seeing the results.

it’s likely that it’s a strategy problem. thing, like I’ve had so many clients at this point where I’ve had clients come to me and then when they work with me, I review their content, we start working together and I’m like, the problem is you’re not making offers. Like that’s it, that’s the problem. And then as soon as they start making offers, they start getting more sales calls and they start having new clients and like,

it could be that simple for some people. For those of you who are making tons of offers, let’s say, for those of you making tons of offers and creating tons of content, but it’s not leading anywhere, it could also be the actual value that you’re giving. I have some clients inside Show Up Real where after reviewing, because we do reviews inside of Show Up Real, meaning I do content reviews and I give you feedback.

And what I find, some clients, there’s a little bit of each client, right? So the clients who post regularly but struggle to actually get it to convert, there is typically a problem where it comes, what I find the most common ones are, are they are generalizing their content in terms of the way the person they’re creating it for, right?

So they are not really talking to their ideal client. They are talking to the general public who’s interested in creating the result. That’s one thing I see that really dilutes content, like one piece of content. It could be that you aren’t actually giving enough value. If your captions or your copy are so short and it’s really just a paragraph long or even two or three paragraphs,

Typically, that’s not enough value. You need to give more context. You need to explain a little bit more. I mean, I can go on and on with this, but when it’s system, when you have a good system, but the strategy is off, then you have to look into those things. And then the next one is you need both. Okay? Now, if you need both, it’s typically that your strategy, the strategy gives your content purpose.

It gives your content guidance, and then the system gives your content consistency. So for some of you, it is a mix of both where you’re not 100 % consistent. consistent is so like vague, but you just want it to be a regular part of your business. Like if you are doing something in your business regularly, marketing needs to be one of them. So that’s what I mean by consistently. I’m not saying every single day.

but it should absolutely be something that you are actively working on every single week and putting it into the world every single week, okay? For those of you who need both, it could be a mix of you don’t really have messaging for your offer, like you don’t have solid messaging for your offer, or you’re not willing to test new ideas for your messaging.

And maybe you only post when you’re launching, for example. That’s something I see a lot is like when you are launching something, you post. And then when you’re not launching something, you’re so exhausted that you just don’t post anything. Or some people, like I see this with a lot of my influencer clients, they’re posting all the time regularly. They have a really great system. But there’s very little strategy when it comes to actually selling the offer that they help people with.

the offer that they provide in their business. They’re not selling it and they’re creating all of this great content, but the content doesn’t have a purpose outside of just teaching and interacting and creating more viable content, which has its purpose, right? But that being said, if you want to grow your revenue, you have to consider both, okay? All right, so I want to give you…

five steps to looking at both of these and creating a solution to both of these and creating a repeatable content strategy, right? A repeatable content strategy that also, that is considering what your goal is and then also considering the system that works best for you, okay?

So let’s start.

All right, so let’s start with number one. Step number one when you are creating this repeatable content strategy is you have to know what you’re selling and when you’re selling it. So choose one offer to focus on for the next 60 days. I would say 40 to 90 days, right? Now, if you have one-on-one offer, you’re selling that all the time.

then you, know, then this step one’s gonna be easy for you. And I would say step two would be more, more relevant to you. But if you have different offers, you have to choose what you’re selling. You have to know what you’re gonna be selling and when you’re going to be selling it. I do this with my calendar. It’s very clear to me, like when, what I’m selling and when I’m selling it. When my, for me, because I have a group program, I have a mastermind and I have one-on-one.

On my calendar. I will set it up where I know what weeks I’m selling one-on-one. I know what weeks I’m selling my mastermind I know what weeks I’m selling my group programs Right so step number one know what you’re selling and what Know what you’re selling for the next 40 to 90 days Period okay step two step two is pick one to

or I should say three to five content messages that you can use to build demand for that offer. Now, when I say your core messaging or a content message, right? What I really want you to ask yourself is like, what do, what conversations do you want to start around your offer for the next 40 to 90 days? What do you want to create earlier this year?

I like, I really, really, really wanted to teach storytelling. Like I was, I mean, I still do. I still love it. And we’re incorporating so much of it into Show Up Real. But I decided for that time that I’m going to focus my so much of my messaging would be around storytelling, around how easy and simple it could be around how your authenticity and your stories, they align so, so well together.

very, very hard for a person to tell stories and not be authentic, tell their stories and not be authentic, right? I had something to say about it. So that was one of my core messages earlier in the year. Now I’m launching Show Up Rail again and a lot of the messaging that I’m focusing on for this launch is around creating simple, simple content systems and strategies and repeatable, right?

I’m focusing on and putting effort into creating frameworks and concepts and just really getting my mindset behind, how can I make something, how can I make a content strategy so simple and easy that people could just repeat it over and over? And the reason I even came up with this idea of, especially from the messaging of simple and repeatable, the reason I came up with this is because one of my clients inside Show Up Real,

She had just recently put on a webinar and she has been in the program for over a year and she’s just had phenomenal results. And when I was looking at what she has done, because I’ve been doing so much homework within my programs and all of it, when I was looking at what she was doing, she was repeating a lot of the same type of content. And I teach this within Show Up Real. I just don’t use that verbiage as much, like the simple and repeatable.

And then also when I look at my clients who are doing really, really well and growing their revenue, I see that there is a process, there is a system that they’re repeating and their content isn’t as scattered. It isn’t as just throwing random ideas out there. They have the freedom to do that. I’m not saying it’s all repeatable, but…

There are some core pieces of content that their audience will come to expect of them because they repeat that content over and over. And when I think of my experience in selling one on one, at that time, I like when I simplified my content and really decided to double down on like, OK, I’m not going to try to make things the most pretty. I’m going to try to make things the most relevant and just the most potent in terms of what I’m trying to say.

When I shifted my brain that way, I didn’t even know it at that time. Like if someone had asked me at that time, I wouldn’t, I don’t think I would have been like, yeah, I have a simple, repeatable content strategy. I wouldn’t have said that. But looking back, I had a wildly simple content strategy. I had a wildly simple content system and I worked with what made sense for me. And when you look at my content from like 2021,

just like even just the whole year of 2021, what you’ll find is there are so many things I repeated over and over and over again for the sake of making it easier for myself so that I could put the actual effort and time into making what I was actually saying more high quality. More high quality. Okay, so this is what I mean by like picking your core messaging.

right, for those offers, for that timeframe. You want to get behind, like, what do you want to be the advocate of when it comes to the result that you help people create, right? Or the result that you help people get. Pick those core content messages to create a campaign, like a marketing campaign, that is not only exciting to you,

but also you get your people on board. Okay, number three, step three in this process is you have to know what platforms you’re on and show up to consistently. Now, this is, what’s really important here is you have to know where you show up consistently and where you show up. If you don’t show up anywhere consistently, then I would, like if you’re on five platforms and you’re not showing up anywhere consistently,

I highly suggest you eliminating the platforms you’re on and trying to get good at being consistent on one platform and then growing from there. Now, I typically, my recommendation is you be on at least two platforms. I recommend three, but two, one long form and one short form. This is really important.

Because a long form content is where you could really teach and connect and you could just create so much trust with your ideal audience from a depth point of view. And then short form content is there for you to create value, but in a more wide way. Like you could reach more people. Now, if you’re just on Instagram, right? And I’ll say long form content is a blog, is a podcast.

It’s, you could even think of it as like email, right? Because you own emails. Long form content, you typically own it. Like you own that content. You want to at least, okay? Short form, we usually will use platforms that have algorithms that, you know, help us reach our ideal audience using social media.

Okay, so that’s the TikToks and Instagram and LinkedIn, right? And the main differences between both of them are one is evergreen, long form is evergreen. And when I say evergreen, what I mean is the content that you create that’s long form, it doesn’t really expire typically. Meaning you could look at some of my episodes on my podcast from episodes one through 10 and all of those.

all of those episodes are still relevant today. You will get just as much value as the person who listened to it, you know, three, four, five years ago, I forget. So long form content typically has that type of potency, whereas short form doesn’t. People, like the algorithm will show your short form content for maybe a couple days, maybe even weeks, I know, depending on the platform.

Maybe even months, like if it’s a high performing short form content, then the algorithm will like continue pushing it out depending on the platform you’re on. But usually the majority of your content is not going to be watched over and over and over and over again. Probably only the content you’ve created for the last one to six months tops would probably be reviewed over and over and over again. So.

You want to know what platforms you’re on and you want to simplify that if you’re having a consistency problem. Number four, you want to set a rhythm for each platform. You want to have an understanding on how many times you’re going to post on each and what the expectation that you have on each platform. So that might look like, okay, I send one email a week or I send one podcast, I create one podcast a week.

On Instagram, let’s say I post five times a week, right? You want to have your go-to number so that you have the standard and expectation and the goal that you’re trying to create, right? So that is step four. You want to have a rhythm. You want to have a standard or an expectation that people could rely on you for. Now, I want to be clear. Like had one client I was talking to just last week and

She was struggling to show up on Instagram on a regular basis for a really long time. Like she would hop on and get online and create tons of great content for like a month and then she would go MIA. And one thing she started in late December was emailing. And for the entire first quarter of the year, she has really gotten into emailing and she has found so much safety in writing more emails.

So when we were talking just last week, one thing I suggested to her was, she was talking to me about Instagram. And I’m like, look, if Instagram is this big challenge that you feel like you cannot get right, and you try over and over and over again, then what I would recommend is double down on what’s working. This is really important, guys. If you struggle with showing up to where you want to show up,

You have to simplify it and or you might even want to eliminate it if it’s just not working for you. So in her case, I was like, look, if email is feeling very easy for you to create, then double down on that. Write an email every single day. Like, so what? Write an email every single day. Value equals money, y’all. Value. Now, if those are shitty emails, then yeah, that would be a problem.

But if they’re valuable emails, if people are reading them, if your open rates are good, if they’re 40%, 50%, even 30%, I mean, I would just, regardless, I would say you, a bad, bad, let’s see, if your open rates are like in the 20s.

It doesn’t mean your content’s bad, it just means you have a problem that you need to solve and you need to fix. It could be the content, but it also could be other things. But I’d say you want a goal for like 40%, 50%, I mean, of course, 60, 70, whatever percent of your email list reading your emails. But regardless, going back to the point here is double down on what works and eliminate something that just is a pain in the ass for you. So for her, I was like…

What I suggested to her is double down on emails, and then when it comes to Instagram, just use Instagram as a place where you give value, but the call to action isn’t working with you. The call to action is getting on your email list. Like, use… So now she’s using Instagram as a lead generation tool, and then her emails is where she converts. The goal is that’s the place where she converts, and she has proof that this works already. Right?

So you want to create a rhythm and a system that works for you, that you are confident, or you could at least try to show up on a regular basis. And what I recommend is testing things in quarters, not in a month. If you struggle for a month, OK. I would say you would, I mean, if you’re trying a new strategy, you’re going to struggle for at least the first couple of weeks, which is basically a month.

So test new things, new strategies, new systems, test them in quarters. Try it for a quarter. So that’s step number four. And then step number five is create a system to reuse and repeat what works. And what this looks like in real time is this example I told you with my client regarding email. She started sending emails. And she actually did a webinar.

in in q12 and she noticed that like she just had this good relationship with her email so she did that for a whole quarter what did we do we learned from it we learned from that quarter and now she’s doubling down on what works she’s testing something new a new approach on instagram right i’m gonna recommend to her she do that for a whole quarter

That is how businesses improve. That is how your revenue increases. You have to understand what’s not working in your business to improve it.

So step five is create a system that you could reuse and repeat what works. And that could be as simple as every single morning before I drink my coffee, or maybe not before, after I drink my coffee, I’m going to use an entire 30 minutes to write an email.

and I’ll give myself 30 minutes and that’s it, right? And maybe you have a list of ideas or whatever and you’re gonna write it and that’s a part of your system. It’s just something you do after coffee. Now, you don’t have to do it after coffee. You could do whatever you want. Some people have whole ass batch recording, right? Where they do it one time a week. I started doing that with video. Now, I wouldn’t recommend going into a whole like one day a week production because that’s very production style and if you’re not used to that,

then you’ll probably struggle with it. But create a simple system that works for you. Those are the steps. Know what you’re selling. Pick some core messaging. Know what platforms you’re posting on. Set a rhythm to how much you’re posting and where. And then create a system, a process for you to execute and repeat what works.

And it’s really, really, really important here is that this is sustainable, that this is repeatable, that it’s repeatable. Because if it’s not repeatable, then you’re going to have a system problem.

And then also, if it’s a strategy problem, then you have to give it a quarter. You have to implement new ideas. You have to have core messaging. You have to know who you’re talking to. And you have to be able to look at your content and actually see if it’s talking to someone specific. And inside Show Up Real, you get to actually submit your content to me so I can tell you that. You can come to me and tell me, what

What’s not working here? What do you see that I can’t, right?

But remember, it has to be sustainable, or it’s just not going to work. So don’t try to like, you know, I’m a person who has really big goals, and that doesn’t work for me always. I have ADHD, so like, I’m very much a person who would like, I could complete all of this in one week. And that is so far from the truth. I actually just hired an ADHD coach. I’m so excited to work with her. She’s one of my clients too. And I’m so pumped, because I need help in that area.

late diagnosed and I just need help in that area. So consider these things. Those are the steps. I hope this was helpful for you. Just don’t try to be creative. I don’t want you to try to be the most creative person every single day, every single week in your content. Try to simplify, try to reuse. Use that creativity to create better, higher quality content.

that actually serves people versus making it fancier and schmancier.

All right. Strategy is your direction. System is your execution. You need both. But they don’t need to be complicated. They don’t need to be complicated. If this episode is exactly what you needed to hear, let me know on Instagram. DM me and let me know what part of this hits. Or if you have any questions, like I’m all ears.

And if it was really, really helpful, then send it to your business bestie. Send it to the person that you talk business with. And maybe they need this too. All right, y’all. If you have not signed up for my webinar, create a simple, repeatable content strategy that actually sells your offer. Go join right now. The link is below. I think.

depending on where you’re listening to this podcast, it might not be a link. You might have to like copy and paste it. So I’ll add it, the whole link and the whole thing below. But regardless, make sure that you follow me on Instagram because there you could look at the link in my bio or you can, of course, always go to my website at Katdelkharmon.com. It’s a banner at the top and you can sign up, but make sure to save the date. It’s happening April 23rd and I’m going to be breaking a lot of this down and making it

really, really easy for you to understand so that you could create your own content strategy. All right, y’all. I hope this was helpful. I send you a big hug. I am so excited. I have two really exciting guests coming up on my podcast in the next couple of weeks. And I also am going to be talking a lot about this systems and strategy.

because of the launch and because of the webinar. So I’m excited. I’m in a place in my business where I’m really dedicated to serving my clients and upping the level I serve them within my programs. So I’m so pumped. All right, y’all. I will see you later. I send you big hug. I’ll see you next time. Bye.